Paul McCartney: Jews Should Not Be Offended by “Hey Jude”

In 1968, The Beatles announced the single, “Hey Jude.” The song’s name did not go over well with everyone. According to McCartney, a Jewish man called him up, furious about the name, and threatened to send his son over to beat the Beatle up. The word “Jude” means “Jew” in German. According to the man, Jews in London already had enough to deal with.

“I said ‘hey baby, let’s cool it down, nothing to do with that,’” McCartney said. “You’ll hear when you hear the record, it’s just a name in a song and it’s all cool.”

McCartney explains that the song was originally titled “Hey Jules,” after John Lennon’s son Julian. In the end, he just liked the name Jude better.